


Vergessen

by memoriesofthecedartrees



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Background Preath - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, Homophobia, background alex/serv, background binoe, pinoe and crystal are hype women, they have a daughter its very cute, they literally all have oc kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22316473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memoriesofthecedartrees/pseuds/memoriesofthecedartrees
Summary: Hinkle is homophobic, as per usual, and Ali has quite a hard time dealing with it. Ali has some anxiety issues. Quite a lot of OC daughter. And there's a lot more but most of it happens 13 years after Chapter 1. (Also it's in English, I promise; I don't speak German)
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger, Megan Rapinoe/Sue Bird, Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Comments: 9
Kudos: 57





	1. Sich Entschuldigen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Little_oblivion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_oblivion/gifts).



> Dedicated to Jordon because it's her birthday when I'm happening to post this and she's an amazing person and an amazing writer. Also, Vergessen is German for "forget." All the chapter names are German for something or another. Side note: yes, their daughter's name is a derivative of mine; be quiet.

She saw her favorite brunette walking into the main room, dragging her bags behind her. "ALI!" she yelled towards her.

She saw Ali's eyes light up as she saw her, and her pace increased. The baby girl against Ashlyn's chest squirmed, but her wife was coming closer and she hadn't held her in a week and she looked so good and then she was there and she wrapped her arms around her and she loved holding Ali so much she couldn't deal with this and- Her voice cracked. "Al. You're everything."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

God. She had just gotten off an 8-hour flight and she wanted nothing less than to walk through a whole airport alone. But- oh. _Oh._ Ashlyn was there.

She saw her lips move, and from all the way across the huge, crowded airport room, she quietly heard her name. _My love._ And their baby was in the carrier next to her.

She started jogging towards them, and then she dropped the bags to hug her wife and- _oh._ Those arms that she loved so much, those beautiful, strong, tattooed arms were around her and she heard a small murmur from her: "Al. You're everything."

"Mm," she hummed into her chest. "I missed you so much, my love."

"I love you, Ali. So much." Ali smiled into her wife's neck. And they were still hugging, rocking back and forth a little bit, completely forgetting that they were in a public airport. Until Ali remembered that they were in a public airport.

"D'you know what's weird?" she whispered. Ashlyn tilted her head a little, but he wife was still whispering into her neck, so she wasn't paying too much attention to the question. Ali poked her side. "What's weird is that everyone looking at us thinks that this is completely platonic."

Ashlyn joking pushed her away, looking mock-horrified. "Oh yeah?" She quirked an eyebrow. "Well, we're gonna have to change that, hey?" And then she had her hands on Ali's jaw and they were kissing and it felt _so good_ to be kissing after a week apart and never mind that they were in a public airport because they were kissing and it felt _so good._ And the kiss still retained its chastity but it had been going on for so long at this point that it wouldn't be retaining it for much longer.

Ashlyn and Ali heard a smattering of applause (???) and one person booing in the background, which seemed like a good cue to break apart. They glanced around, slightly embarrassed, at all the people who had been clapping (and that one asshole holding a baby at the back.) 

Ashlyn leaned in to kiss Ali's cheek and say in her ear: "Wanna go? I'll grab your bags... you can take Anna. She missed you." Ali shivered, already feeling the loss of Ashlyn against her. But she was finally able to hold their baby after so long. She squatted down next to the baby carrier to pick up their little girl. Although she was only a few months old, she was already the spitting image of Ashlyn. Both parents were completely in love.

Ali picked the girl up and rocked her for a little while. The baby cooed. Ali smiled down at her and her heart just about exploded. Ashlyn, looking on, seemed like she was about to cry. Her wife tickling and talking to their daughter, both of them smiling and cooing. She couldn't help herself from coming up behind them and wrapping her arms around the brunette's midsection and rested her head against her shoulder. "You're cute and all, but we really have to go." "Fiineee," Ali groaned. Ashlyn picked up the bags and the baby carrier. Ali was all but skipping ahead of her with Anna. _God, they're both so cute._

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

They passed by the booing woman on their way out. Ashlyn not-so-subtly flipped her off as they walked by. It was probably against some airport code of conduct, but she figured that egregious lesbian PDA was probably against that too, so they should be fine. 

They were walking away as they heard a pointed "Excuse me?" Ashlyn winced as she slowly turned around. _Security guard._ But then it wasn't. It was the woman herself. Ali looked confused, as she hadn't seen Ashlyn's gesture. "Yes?" Ashlyn responded icily.

"That's why I hate you gays," the woman hissed. Ashlyn dropped the bags to grab Ali's hand, which she found shaking. 

"You're all so _wrong._ You're so rude. You're truly monsters." Ali found her voice, although it was shaky. "Please stop talking to me and my wife right now. You don't have the right-"

"Your _wife,_ " the woman sneered. "She's not your wife. And you don't have the _right_ to go around filthily making out in public places. I don't want my son being exposed to your type, especially at his impressionable age." She patted her baby's back affectionately. "He's going to marry a nice woman one day and-" 

Ashlyn cut her off. "Your son will marry whoever the fuck he wants. And you can keep sheltering him. Good luck with that. He will be just as disgusting as you because he will have no coping or social skills being stuck at home with you who is as bigoted as they come. I'm truly sorry to have just listened to one of the most intolerant monologues I've ever seen... have a nice life, both of you. BYE GIRL." 

She grabbed the bags with one hand and wrapped her other arm around Ali, who was comforting a now-crying Anna. "I'm sorry, love," Ashlyn whispered. "I shouldn't have provoked her. I'm-" she choked on her words. "-really sorry." "It's not your fault," Ali said softly. "She's the monster."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

Ali drove home. Ashlyn continuously apologized from the passenger seat, Anna cradled in her lap. Ali was quiet, lost in her own thoughts. Occassionally, she'd mumble a "Stop apologizing, Ash. It's not your fault." 

They finally arrived home. It was quiet in the car. Ali went inside to put Anna down for a nap. Ashlyn intercepted her on her way out of the nursery, and pulled her over to a couch.

"Ali. You're freaking out." It wasn't a question. "I'm _not,_ Ash. Stop worrying." Ali curled into herself. "She can't hurt you, baby. It was horrible, but it'll be fine. You'll never see her again."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

Later, at a party at Pinoe's house, Ashlyn had to leave her wife with Alex and Alanna to search down the host, who she found talking to Crystal. "You two, get over here," she said, grabbing her friends' arms and pulling them into a slightly quieter corner of the house.

"What the fuck, Ash-" Pinoe exclaimed before being cut off by Ashlyn. "Shut up. It's Ali." They both went silent. 

"Y'all need to talk to her. She's spiraling, for lack of a better word. We- ran into someone at the airport earlier who started to..." A lump caught in her throat. "She- told us we were unnatural and monsters and couldn't really be married." Her face changed. "It was MY FAULT! We kissed and she was booing so I flipped her off and then she started spewing that shit!" She slammed her hand against the wall. "I thought I was done with this shit! I told myself I didn't care what other people said! But she hurt Ali and it was _my fault!_ "

Her body slid down the wall so that she was sitting on the ground and then she was sobbing and how the hell did she get here and Pinoe and Crystal were there, hugging her and saying it was ok and "IT'S NOT OK!"

Pinoe sighed and awkwardly hugged her best friend. "Ashlyn. _You're_ not ok. You always beat yourself up for everything. Every person in this house would flip off a person that was booing them and their partner. Well, maybe not like... Lyssa or Becky, but _most_ of the people in this house." Ashlyn snorted.

Crystal cut in with "Bitch, we love you, and you need to realize that! Ali loves you! You'll get over this. She knows it's not your fault. You're not the monster." Ashlyn's head swum. _You're not the monster._ She felt the tears in the back of her throat, and her voice choked as she dragged two of her best friends down to the floor next to her and said "I love you idiots. Thank you. But I'm not going to hug you because I'm taken. Which I have to go prove to my wife." She hugged her best friends as Pinoe muttered "You liar."

"Ok. I have to go talk to Ali."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

She scanned the crowd in the living room. A slow song came on the blaring speakers, which seemed like a perfect cue to walk over to Ali. She smirked. "Dance with me?"

Ali smiled her beautiful, nose-crinkling smile, but her face quickly turned to worry. "Baby, why are your eyes red?" Ashlyn was quick to brush that topic of conversation away.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Point is, I'm sorry for provoking that woman earlier, I'm sorry she said that stuff to us, I'm sorry I didn't apologize well earlier, and I'm sorry that I'm bringing this up again. I guess I'm rambling, but... I'm just sorry. For everything."

Ali melted a little. "Oh, shut _up,_ Ash," and then she kissed her. They pulled away just enough so that Ali was whispering into the blonde's lips. "I love you. So- apology accepted. Even though you didn't have to apologize." Ashlyn smiled at Ali being back to herself again. "I love you too."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

Truly, the day had been torturous for Ali. Even without the hellish transatlantic flight, she had been uncomfortable enough today to last the next month. After all, no one really _enjoys_ being called a monster, alongside their wife, in a public space.

When it started, she wasn't too bothered, just annoyed. Then she got a little scared because the woman, although harmless-looking and holding a child, had a few buff guys circling that she feared would swoop in and attack them. Near the end, she started really listening to the words being said, and that was probably the worst part. She just caught the tail-end of "filthily making out" and- ugh. She didn't even want to think about it again. 

In the car, she called upon her subconscious to remember the rest of the conversation, and forced herself to relive the whole thing over and over. Ash kept _apologizing,_ though. There was no way she could actually think she was at fault, not after having the courage to stand up for Ali and their relationship. But the blonde was almost too caring. Once she dissected the fuck out of a situation, Ali liked to just lie down on her bed and just _forget_ about everything. She knew it wasn't the best coping method, but it _worked._ It was the only thing that ever worked.

But then they had Pinoe's party to go to, and Ashlyn wouldn't _let_ her forget. But then the younger woman left her alone for a while at the party, and she had fun with some of her other friends, and she finally forgot. And then when Ash brought it up again, it didn't hurt, because after she forgot, no hurt was attached to the memory anymore. But whatever. They're here. At this party. She doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

They were dancing, if what they were doing counted as dancing. They had their arms wrapped around each other and were basically just rocking back and forth. It was how they always "danced." Ali liked it because it reminded her of their wedding. Ashlyn wasn't exactly sure why they always did it, but she just went along with it for her wife.

Ali ran her hand against Ashlyn's neck. "Ok, we've done the apologies, we've done the professions of love, now let's-"

But Ashlyn knew her too well to let her finish that sentence. "I'm not letting you get drunk, babygirl."

"But what if-"

"I'm not fucking you right now, either." 

Ali poured as Ashlyn laughed. "Hmph." The older woman hmphed. "I don't like you." Ashlyn smirked. "Well, that's unfortunate," she deadpanned, and leaned in to peck her wife's lips. And just like that, they fell back into their easy banter, as if the whole standoff earlier that day had never happened.

Ash started it with "Oh God, my wife is so beautiful," while very cliche-y staring lovingly into Ali's eyes, and Ali saw that as an opportunity to come in with "Oh really? Where is she? She must be a lucky woman." 

"Truly, I'm luckier to have her. She has this beautiful sable hair that goes to her shoulders, and the most amazing, soulful, deep brown eyes I've ever had the privilege to see. Overall, she's just gorgeous. And you'll be able to see a very sweet German script tattoo on her forearm."

Ali was blushing from her wife's adoring description. "She sounds great, but truly, you seem amazing as well. I'll be on the lookout for her." The older woman started to walk away, before Ashlyn grabbed her wrist and spun her back into her arms before kissing her softly. "You're perfect."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-

Later, as they were lying in bed, after picking Anna up from the babysitter's and putting her to bed, notably more sober than Ali had hoped they would be when this happened, the brunette finally decided to tell Ashlyn what had been wrong.

The realization that this was necessary came after she had asked her wife why her eyes had been red at the party. "Crying," Ashlyn had answered softly. "My fault?" Ali asked tentatively. "I wouldn't say _fault_ exactly, but in the simplest sense of the word, yes, it was because of you." And Ali couldn't deal with the fact that the love of her life had been crying about her, so she came to the conclusion that she needed to be told.

"Hold me," she commanded softly. Ashlyn's lips found her ear, and whispered, "What's up, babygirl?" She felt Ali's muscles relax softly at the pet name. The elder sighed.

"Well, it's a long story. Basically, what happened earlier, I can't deal with that sort of shit. So I always try to just curl up and think of something, anything else. I want to forget. And once the memory is gone for a while, it hurts less when it comes back. So I'm sorry for rejecting you so much earlier. But when I try to forget, your apologies just remind me. And I never told you this because I never wanna burden you with all my shit. And this is- really hard. I'm sorry."

Ashlyn pushed her wife's shoulder to signal for her to turn over. Her voice was soft when she spoke. "Look at me, love. I want to hear about all of your shit. If I could take it from you, I would. But I can at least share it. Do you hear me? _Never_ be scared of telling me something. Because I'm here forever, for all of your ups, downs, and in-betweens. And that idiot of a woman earlier, to quote the most amazing person I know: "She isn't here. She can't hurt us."

Ali laughed. "Stop quoting yourself, you asshole." Ashlyn was secretly proud of herself for making her smile again. 

"Well, you know what? I can think of one person better than that. Just one. And you know what _she_ said? "You'll never see her again."

Ali kissed her. "You're forgiven."

"Good, and just so you know, I'll let you forget this one, because it was fucking awful, but next time, we need to get you some better coping methods."

And then Ali pouted again, and she was so damn cute that Ash had to kiss her again, but wow, they really had been kissing a lot today. 

And here, Ali saw her opening to do something she had been waiting for all night. She requested entry into her wife's mouth, before biting softly on Ashlyn's lower lip to convey her intent, and then breaking away just long enough to husk:

_"Oh really? Then make me forget."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yell at me in the comments about everything I did wrong and everything I did right! Fun fact: Ashlyn's little monologue to Hinkle is something one of my irls has actually said over Facebook to a stranger once, and it was the most iconic behavior I've ever seen so I had to include.


	2. Familie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is OC daughter Anna's perspective the whole time. Honestly, this chapter isn't that relevant to the plotline, and even more honestly, you won't be missing anything if you skip it. So, don't read it if you don't want to. It's just fluff featuring the gay family, and very much featuring Pinoe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I've decided that they are ex-soccer players, but met younger, married younger, and Ali had Anna at like, 24. Anna is 13 and a high school freshman. So let's say it's set in 2021, and Ash and Ali are 36 and 37, respectively. Ali got her seat at the table and works in sports management, and Ashlyn's a stay-at-home mom.

A lot of people didn't like Anna Krieger-Harris. She had a good amount of friends, but high school was just hard. She was an honor student, and she got along fine academically. But rumours followed her, most boys didn't like her, and Catholic school was just hard when you had queer parents. 

Only her close friends really knew, but people talk, and a lot of people had their own speculations about Anna's home life. She avoided talking about it if she could, especially sucks when her classmates were debating the legitimacy of gay marriage and she wanted to just scream, “MY PARENTS ARE MARRIED AND LOOK AT THEM! THEY’RE HAPPY!” But she never did. She just sat quietly at the back of the classroom and listen to people say that her family was unnatural. “Gay people can't have kids! They can't raise the next generation!” “ _ Well then what the fuck am I? Living. Fucking. Proof,”  _ she thought. 

She knows her friends pity her sometimes, but they're really good about it all. They’re always at her house, and they just don't care. They treat her no differently than anyone else. People sometimes muttered slurs at her in the hallways. She just kept her head down and her mouth shut. She wanted to tell them that she's literally straight (as far as she knows, at least). But whatever. She'd never tell her moms about this shit because she knows they'd say some bullshit about standing up for herself, and yes, she knew she should, but it was so much easier this way. Her mom's had broken so many barriers in soccer before she was born, and she’d heard all their stories, and maybe she could be like that someday, but not now. Now she just wanted to try and have fun in high school without people annoying her.

Anna let herself in after school one day, chatting with her friends about something or another behind her. Her moms were lying on the couch next to each other, Ali being held possessively to Ashlyn’s chest, watching TV. As Anna, Sophie, and Grace walked through the living room, Ali turned around to ghost a kiss over her wife's lips, then say “Hey Anna! Hi girls! Do you want anything?” “We’ve got it, thanks.” Anna smiled. Her moms were annoying, but they were kind of cute. “Fuckin’ PDA,” she muttered to her friends, and laughed. “I heard that!” Ashlyn called back to them. 

The girls laughed some more, and then went up to Anna's room. When they got up, Grace voice what Anna had been thinking earlier. “God they're too cute. They-” “Why, thank you,” Ashlyn cut in, opening the bedroom door, obviously having just followed them up. “I'm not just here to eavesdrop, promise.” She paused. “It's just an added bonus.” Anna rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Pinoe and Sue and Tobin and Christen are coming over with Stacy, Joseph, Mike, Brian, and Brianna.” Anna groaned at the mention of all of her little cousins-that-aren't-really-cousins. Sophie and Grace looked confused. “Alex, Serv, and Janice might come too. Can you put on something nice? Yes, you have to.” Anna dramatically flopped back onto her bed. “Fineeeee. Just go keep on making out with Ali or something.” Ashlyn clicked her tongue. “Rude! But yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Don't come down if you don't want any more ‘fucking PDA’.”

Anna lay still until she heard Ashlyn’s voice talking to Ali downstairs. She finally set up when Sophieasked who the hell those people were. Anna’s voice was monotonous. “5 ‘aunts,’” she said, using air quotes. “1 ‘uncle’. 6 ‘cousins’. All under the age of 11. None actually related to me.” “Joy,” Grace cut in. “Are we allowed to stay?” Oh you fucking better. Don't leave me alone with the small children.” Then, she pulled on a blue crop top and skinny jeans, threw her hair up in a ponytail, threw some clothes at Grace and Sophie so they could get out of their uniforms, and then it was time for the outing. 

“You done down there?” Anna yelled down the stairs at her moms. “Yeah! We're coming up to get dressed. They'll be here in, like, 30,” Ali yelled back. As Anna, Sophie, and Grace came downstairs and passed Ash and Ali, Anna heard the blonde mutter “We get it, honey, you're straight, but that outfit, bitch…” Anna went over to lightly punch her mom on the arm. “You know, look straight in front of the family?” Ashlyn snorted. “At least a third of the people coming over are gay. I'm gay, Ali’s gay, and Pinoe’s gay enough to make up the rest.” Anna walked away. “I tried.” Sophie and Grace didn't really get the point of all the banter, but whatever. And they couldn't wait to meet this Pinoe. 

“Banana!” a pretty, dark-haired woman squealed as she walked into the house, dropping another woman’s hand to hug Anna. Anna smiled into her aunt’s shoulder. She babied her sometimes, but she was so sweet that Anna didn’t mind. “Hi, Aunt Christen.” The woman whose hand she had been holding, who with her other hand was holding a two year old’s hand, nodded. “Hey, Anna.” 

“Hey, Tobin,” Anna replied. 

Christen sighed. “You're all so  _ boring.” _ She skipped over to kiss Tobin's cheek. 

Ali was coming down the stairs. “I'm feeling very left out right now.” 

She threw her arms around Christen's neck, then moved over to do the same to Tobin. “I missed you guys. And- oh!” She squealed. Anna was getting a headache from all the squealing. “They've gotten so big! Oh, Stacy!” Ali was still strong enough to lift the ten year old Stacy up. 

“Hello!” “Hi, Aunty Ali! Aunty Ashlyn! Oh my gosh!” Ashlyn had quietly entered the room. She sat down and lifted the five-year-old Michael onto her lap. “Hey Chris. Hey Toby. Hey Stace.” Anna sat on the arm of her mom's chair for a second, to whisper, 

“Someone save me.” Ashlyn laughed. “People are starving. You'll survive.” Anna rolled her eyes. “Sophie, Grace, this is Christen, Tobin, Stacy, Joseph, and Mike. All of you, this is Sophie and Grace.” The respective parties said hi to each other, and Anna walked back over to her friends. “Just wait until everyone gets here, then we can leave. This is so awkward. It's kind of hellish.” “It's not that bad. They seem nice.” Sophie tried to reason. “ Sure, they're nice, but…” 

She was interrupted by the door open again. Ali put Stacy down, who then went to Christen, and went to greet the others. “Alex! We're all in the living room, come on.” A woman in a pink dress, holding a little baby, and her husband walked in. Grace’s mouth dropped open. “Are you-” The woman did a little twirl. “Alex Morgan. Yes, at your service.” “Oh, Jesus Christ.” Grace had never put two and two together and thought that Ashlyn and Ali had been on the USWNT, which meant that they would have been teammates with people like Alex Morgan and Megan- oh, fuck. Megan Rapinoe. Pinoe.  _ Fuck.  _ “And I'm Christen Press.” “And I'm Tobin Heath.” And these names were all familiar and- “Oh.” 

All the adults in the room were laughing now, and Grace blushed. “So you guys are kind of famous.” Tobin shrugged. “Wouldn’t say so myself, but simplest sense of the word, sure. People know who we are.” Anna was dying laughing at her friend's confusion. Alex rolled her eyes. “Sorry about them. They're not used to being recognized.” “Hey!” Ali pushed her. Alex preened. “Hi, I'm Alex Morgan, I'm banned from Disneyland, and I'm the face of women soccer. Oh yeah, and I won two World Cups.” 

This was interrupted by a voice from the door. “We're HERE!” 

“Fashionably late as per usual,” someone else mumbled. “Because Megan was doing her hair.” “You know you love me,” said the other disembodied voice. 

A tall woman came in the archway of the living room. “Unfortunately.” 

The pink haired woman caught Anna’s eye and gave her that look only she could give. “Pinoe!” “ Anna!” And they did their handshake ending in a hug and wow, she really hadn't seen Pinoe in a while. 

They broke apart and 

“Pinoe!” 

“Harris!” 

“Pinoe!” 

“Kriegy!” 

“And Sue,” Sue interjected. Pinoe kissed her on the cheek. “No one's forgetting about you, baby.” 

“As our lovely Anna here would say, ‘fuckin’ PDA’. Everyone in the room looked shocked, mostly false, except for Christen, who said reprovingly, “Not in front of the kids, Ashlyn.” “Sorry, sorry.”

Sophie and Grace looked lost. Anna beckoned them both over, as Christen, Tobin, Alex, and Serv started talking, the older kids went into a corner to play, and Ashlyn and Ali started talking to Pinoe and Sue. Anna and her friends went to join the latter. Grace still looked shell-shocked to be this close to Megan Rapinoe. 

Anna introduced them all, and they fell into easy conversation, Ashlyn and Ali wandering over to play with the kids. Anna noticed for the first time that Sue only referred to Pinoe as Megan, which literally no one called her. That must be their little thing.  _ That's cute. _ Sue interrupted her reverie, saying, “You're looking offensively straight-girl today, Anna.” Anna pronouncedly rolled her eyes. “You are literally the second person who said that to me today. I live in a homo-fucking-normative world.” Sophie and Grace giggled, Sue laughed, and Pinoe guffawed so hard that Tobin looked over to make sure that she was okay. 

And this was one of the reasons Pinoe was Anna's favorite aunt. She made her simultaneously want to be five years old again so she could cuddle up against her side and fall asleep on her shoulder, while also wanting to be an adult so they could talk like adults. But she also made it feel like where she was now was the best place she could ever possibly be, and always gave her the best of both aforementioned worlds. She didn't understand how anyone could hate Megan Rapinoe. She would never understand it. No one who actually cared to know her at all could ever think that. Aside from being the self-assured activist the public saw (which she also was, constantly), she was just a hilarious, kind-hearted human being. Anna couldn't stand thinking about people putting her aunt down, just as much as she couldn't stand people talking badly about her moms at school. Literally snapping her out of her thoughts, Pinoe snapped near her face. “Annie? Hi. How’s religion class going?” “Same old, same old. Gay people can't have kids, blah blah blah.” Pinoe leaned over her fiance to ruffle their son's hair. “Beg to differ, eh?” Anna gave a small smile. “Yeah. Beg to differ.” 

Anna retrieved Sophie and Grace from where they were they were eagerly talking to Sue and brought them back upstairs. She wouldn't have left, but she knew they were all staying in the Orlando area and would very likely be back the next day. “Not so bad, right?” Sophie asked cautiously. Anna smiled. “Nope. Not so bad at all.”

Ali’s voice floated up the stairs. “Girls! If you want to come down and say goodbye, now's the chance.” “Be right there!” Anna yelled. “Ready to enter the hellfire?” She turned to her friends and smirked. “Because you better be.” 

They went down and exchanged hugs with everyone, Christen hugging Anna extra hard, which caused Anna to laugh and say “You're seeing me tomorrow, Aunt Christen.” Tobin lose her arm around her niece in what (maybe) could be considered a hug, and whispered conspiratorially, “Not tomorrow. The day after. She can't handle that long.” Christen overheard and swatted her wife away. “ Are we really not seeing you guys tomorrow?” Anna piped up.

“No, sweetie. We all have something planned. Saturday, though,” Christen replied. 

Anna pouted. She really did love this little family that had formed. 

Finally, she hugged Pinoe. Her aunt whispered what she always did into her hair. “I love you forever. More than you could ever imagine. Never forget that. For me.” “Love you too, Pinoe,” Anna mumbled. “I'll never forget.” Sue appeared. “Give me my fiance back.” She pulled on Pinoe’s arm. Anna rolled her eyes. “Not more of this, oh God, okay, you can leave, I don't wanna see.” 

Everyone started spilling out of the house, the family inside hugging all the little kids, until they were gone, and only Anna, Ashlyn, Ali, Sophie, and Grace were left in the house. Eventually they drove Sophie and Grace back to their respective houses, Grace thanking them again for introducing her to Pinoe and Alex as she left. Anna slid into the front seat beside Ashlyn. 

Her mom smiled at her, a huge, sincere smile. “We love you so much, honey. Me and Ali, we're so damn proud of you. We know you go through shit at school because of us and-” Her accent crept out, just like it always did when she got emotional. “-and we’re truly so, so thankful that we have you. Thank you for being you, Banana.” Her eyes shone with emotion, and suddenly Anna’s throat choked up. She buried her head in Ashlyn’s shoulder. “I love you too, mom. Thanks for that.” She sat back on her seat. 

“Why’d you think of that now?” Ashlyn shook her head like she was trying to clear it. “You with Pinoe. I'm so happy you have her, and you have Sue and Christen and Tobin and Alex. They shape you, and we shape you, and you shape yourself, but I'm so, so happy you turned out like this.” She started the car. “ I love you, Mom,” Anna whispered. And then they drove away, because at this point they'd really been idling outside Grace’s house for way too long. 

Ali came up to Anna's room. “Ashlyn talked to you?” Anna nodded. “It's all from me too. And, you know, she's a lot better with her words than I am, but I love you, baby. Thank you for everything.” She leaned down to hug her daughter. “I love you too, Mom. So much.” Anna had no idea how much hearing that meant to her mom, who knew she didn't spend enough time at home with her girls. “The A-Team, right?” Ali said as she walked out. “Right. Night-night, mom.” “Night, Anna Banana.”

It had been a good day. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yell at me in the comments about everything I did wrong and everything I did right! Fun fact: Ashlyn's little monologue to Hinkle is something one of my irls has actually said over Facebook to a stranger once, and it was the most iconic behavior I've ever seen so I had to include.


End file.
